Laura Kupe serves as Deputy Chief Program Officer at BENS, drawing on over a decade of national security and foreign policy expertise across think tanks, Congress, and the Federal Government,…

Vice Admiral Trey Whitworth concluded over 36 years of commissioned service as Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). As Director, he transformed a 16,000-person organization into a mission-ready Combat…

Admiral Christopher Grady is a senior defense and national security leader with more than four decades of operational, strategic, and institutional experience at the highest levels of the U.S. government.…

Gen. Anthony J. Cotton was the Commander, United States Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He was responsible for one of 11 Unified Commands under the Department of War.…

Emma Smith is an Initiatives Associate at BENS, where she supports projects that leverage private sector expertise to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. national security. Prior to joining BENS, she held several roles at the…

Lily Booker serves as the Special Programs Manager on the Support team at BENS. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, she relocated to Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2024. Lily earned…